[juusan]

it's here! woo! and a mere 24 hours late (fedex was supposed to deliver it yesterday but apparently it just sat in the taiwan airport for three days and in indiana for another two days).

it's a 12" G4 ibook maxed on drive space and ram w/ airport extreme card and no bluetooth (I misunderstood the apple website and thought they were just going to include a usb bluetooth adapter... oops).

box opening pictures coming soon.


so far, little features I like:

the solid plastic caps on the ends of the power and vga adapters... nice touch.

the tiny plastic clip on the power cord for looping it around and taking up slack.


annoyances:

the battery sits very slightly off, not a big deal though.

something sounded funny when I removed the keyboard to check out the installed airport extreme card. not sure if that's a big deal or not.

more once I actually get a chance to sit down and play with it...

[juusan]

here ya go... arrived this morning around 10am:

[darcybaston]

Juusan, thanks for the great pictures and congratulations on the new iBook. If you have any higher resolution pics let us know?

Now if our pending 14" owners will be sure to whip their cameras out too, we can finally have a look at the rest of the family.

[moonsocket]

just got shipping confirmation on mine!
Nov 6, 2003 5:35 pm

Left FedEx Origin Location

TAOYUAN CITY TW




5:31 pm

Pickup status

TAOYUAN CITY TW

Package received after FedEx cutoff time

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

[geoffeg]

After my G3 iBook died for the third time in the same manner Apple decided to replace it with a G4 iBook. The order for the new iBook was placed on Monday (the third) and apparently it won't ship until the 13th. Does it usually take 10 days to go from order to shipping? I'm really excited about the new iBook and really miss using OS X.

Thanks,
Geoffeg

[juusan]

Originally posted by geoffeg:
After my G3 iBook died for the third time in the same manner Apple decided to replace it with a G4 iBook. The order for the new iBook was placed on Monday (the third) and apparently it won't ship until the 13th. Does it usually take 10 days to go from order to shipping? I'm really excited about the new iBook and really miss using OS X.

Thanks,
Geoffeg

it took mine about ten days to ship, and then another few days to deliver due to fedex's incompetence.

[moonsocket]

the battery sits very slightly off



the 500 mhz g3 ibook i had had the same problem as did a few other 'books ive seen.
doesnt seem to affect the functionality though

[StuartB]

These 10 day wait that everyone's mentioning, is that from the Apple store?

[DennyA]

Mine shipped Monday after ordering on Friday; the order confirmation showed a Wednesday ship.

My extra battery was slated to ship on 11/12, and it shipped today.

[moonsocket]

what does this mean?


Nov 7, 2003 8:56 pm

Left FedEx Ramp

C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW


does that mean its flying?

[zapgadget]

I ordered a BTO 12" iBook G4 with Bluetooth, Airport and 60G drive on 29th October (Did I really write August) from the AppleStore France. After receiving a cheerful email telling me it would ship no later than Nov 4th, I got a shipping notice today (Nov 7th).

Like everyone else, it's coming from Taiwan. Bad news is I have it coming to my office, and we have a long weekend, so the earliest I can possibly collect it is Wednesday.

It's a long time since I had a Mac (SE30 days), but the OS X in a laptop convinced me to replace my old Linux laptop with something that should (I hope) just work...

[moonsocket]

i love this


Nov 7, 2003 8:56 pm

Left FedEx Ramp

C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW




5:17 pm

Left FedEx Sort Facility

ANCHORAGE AK




12:21 pm

Arrived at Sort Facility

ANCHORAGE AK


T I M E W A R P!!!!!!!!!!

no all it has to do is make its way to the eastcoast of canada and we'll be all set

[HaloMouse]

Originally posted by geoffeg:
Does it usually take 10 days to go from order to shipping?

Keep in mind also that the date that will appear on your order status is the last date in the range of ship date possibilities they have for you (you can call them up and ask if you're really curious). Mine was supposed to ship sometime over a six day range, and it shipped the day before that.

However:
The short version) Customs seems often to be making up for that whole earliness by being evil and taking forever (though it seems they have quite a few of these coming in...).

The slightly longer version) Apple probably used FedEx's International Priority Direct Distribution for your iBook (it's all I've seen so far), which means they send a whole bunch of them as one shipment from Taiwan to the states (I did some curiosity research). They ALL go through customs as one (I've seen some people whose orders have been part of shipments that customs checked a few times)--and they ALL seem to be going through Indianapolis--and then the individual orders split off, at which point they seem to speed up a bit, and the tracking is MUCH better. For instance, in my case, my little darling got here almost two days after it was supposed to, because customs couldn't bear to see it leave for a while.

But it will come. And they're spiffy (though to be true, many things are spiffy after a 9600...).

[si_lance]

Thanks for all the hints you guys posted. I decided to get the iBook from the Apple Store in it's stock configuration so I'd get it faster, and then I'll order the Airport Extreme at a later time (prolly next month). I paid the extra $15 for 2-3 days after initial shipment. I can't hardly wait.

On a side note, I gotta give props to my Dell Inspiron 4000 which I've been using for the last 2.5 years. I've loaded all sorts of distros of Linux on it, and even FreeBSD a few times, and of course Win2k at least a dozen times (I wipe that partition often). She's going to a friend of mine that does consulting and needs a Windows machine to develop on. I no longer require anything Windows, and I plan to keep it that way.

[MRTrauffer]

My 14" iBook G4 finally arrived!! This is my first mac and I'm absolutely impressed with this machine. So long, PC!!!

I chose the 14" over the 12" inch because I like a bigger screen. And the resolution discussions that I've been reading about really don't mean that much. Even though it's the same resolution as the 12", it still looks great.

The battery life is excellent. So far only a couple of bugs appeared when closing a couple of programs, and I can't get the eject button on the keyboard to work, but that doesn't bother me.

If you're looking for a good notebook, I highly recommend the iBook G4 14"!! It's worth it.


javascript:smilie('')

[HaloMouse]

Re: the eject button not working.

Try holding it down for a while (a few seconds, even). I got frustrated at mine, too, at first, and then I learned that it just likes to have a little more attention. Wait for the eject graphic on the screen...

And yes, I agree--the 14-inchers are spiffy. I'm loving mine.

[TWinbrook46636]

Okay, now that some of you have received them, let's see some pictures of the 14" models!

[darcybaston]

Yes, photos please! I've scoured the net and found only 2 but the jpgs were corrupted.

[HaloMouse]

Ah. If only I had a camera.

I may have a new computer, but that's about the only tech-thing I've got that's new, or cool.

*realizes that laptops can be picked up and taken places that DO have cameras*

I'll see what I can do.

[darcybaston]

After lurking for 2 years, reading countless posts on ordering, challenges, servicing, bugs, behaviors etc. I finally ordered my own iBook.

I chose the 14" 933mhz model with 384 ram (Apple sales rep had one in the channel which could get to my hands faster then the stock model, and didn't charge for the extra RAM.)

Just for fun, I'm going to list the things I've learned about the iBooks since I began reading/posting here :

I WONT return the iBook if I discover the following:
-a dead pixel

-curving plastic behind the iBook's title/logo

-compression noises from resting palms

-the battery isn't completely flush with the edge

-the hinge is stiff

-the battery gauge isn't 100% accurate

And the DOs I've heard about :
-DO cover the keyboard with a thin cloth to protect oils from the screen

-DO let the battery drain completely and charge it to 100% when I first get it

-DO hold the eject key until ejection occurs, but DONT press harder thinking it isn't working

-DO turn off the option for disabling the trackpad when an external mouse is present

-DO investigate the option to turn off the trackpad when typing when strange behaviors occur

-DO try massaging a dead pixel gently with a cotton tip swab

-DO avoid the habit of closing and opening the lid a thousand times a day to give it some longevity

-DO tighten the keyboard screw when it arrives

-DO enjoy it, create things with it and show it off

-DO be mindful that bad ram can cause kernel panics

-DO get AppleCare

-DO wipe the screen without using chemicals, but use a soft cloth

-DO a fresh resinstall of Panther once I get it

-DO wash hands after handling chalk before use since the porous top white covering in the keyboard/palm area absorbs the dust real fast. http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

-DO continue to read write posts here

Ok, that's it for the fun trip down learning-memory lane. iBook should arrive next week. This is my 2nd Mac since 2000. The first was an iMac DV SE 400Mhz which my brother and his wife are now using as their first computer. They love it. I've been using PCs since the first monochrome Epson in the early 80s, and had a great Amiga journey between 1989 and 2000 (A2000, A1200).

Time to break the chains to the desk and enjoy my first portable! Thanks for all the posts and information guys. I feel well equipped to have a wonderful produdctive time.

[recogniser]

I thought I'd mention this in addition to Darcy's post. I had a 500 Mhz iBook a year or so ago and I kept hearing about how people were getting scratches on the screen from the keyboard rubbing up against it when it was closed. People were talking about buying little plastic screen covers for it and whatnot. Well, after reading about all of that, when I got mine I kept the little thin foam insert that comes between the keyboard and screen when you first open the box. I would just always put that thin foam piece on the kayboard and close up the iBook before I went anywhere. My screen never got a single scratch. I don't know if the new iBooks have that protective foam piece or not.

Another note. I just ordered a G4 iBook last week, with estimated ship date of Nov. 13th. Tonight I got an email saying it will be delayed until Nov. 21st. I called to cancel since I will be graduating in about a month and wouldn't have much use for it if I actually received it in like 2 weeks. The guy I talked to said my order was in process and it should be shipped tonight. The reason I got the email was because it had not shipped before 5pm in my time zone, and they are "required by federal law to send a notification before the end of the workday," according to the rep. I don't know if that will ease anyone else's nerves who may have got the same email today, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Hopefully it will be here in a couple of days.

[darcybaston]

iBook tracking history :

Nov 12 -Ordered iBook via personal sales contact on the phone at Apple Canada.

Nov 12 -Order status page says it will ship on or before the 18th.

Nov 14 -iBook has shipped. Chose 2 day express delivery at order time.

Nov 14 -Fedex says it's in Taiwan and is supposed to arrive at destination on the 20th.

Nov 15 -Left FedEx ramp C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW

Nov 16 -In Memphis TN at noon

Nov 17 -In Winnipeg Manitoba, released for delivery. Now it has to either fly (2 hours) or drive (12 hours) to Sudbury ON where I am.

Nov 18 -7am, it went past me and south to Mississauga. Now it has to fly for an hour or drive for 6 to reach me.

Nov 18 -10a, they flew it to Sudbury and it's supposedly on the truck to be delivered to me. Woohoo!

So the order was done with a 2 day delivery (paid extra for shipping), and Fedex says it will take 6. I'll let you know when it really arrives and we can see if paying the extra dollars on expedited shipping is really worth it.

[DennyA]

Darcy,

Cool to see another Amiga person here. I wrote for AmigaWorld for a number of years (and Compute!'s Amiga Resource, if anyone remembers that.) My first "Mac" was an A-Max for the Amiga 1000, followed by an Emplant in the A4000. Then I got a Mac Classic cheap from work in '94, just for fun. The 12" iBook G4 is my first Mac in 9 years (and the first new one).

You might get the iBook sooner than predicted; dunno about Canadian shipping, but mine left Taiwan on Monday and got to me on Wednesday.

I'm sold on the iBook's value. Absolutely love the OS X interface -- the "Classic" Mac OS always had enough peculiarities to bug me, particularly weird startup problems related to extensions, and the lack of real multitasking. (The latter I'm sure you understand having been an Amiga person...) OS X is solid, and works pretty well with "mainstream computers" as well.

Anyway, getting off-topic with the "ordering" aspect here.

[darcybaston]

Hi Denny! So good to hear from a fellow past Amigan for sure! You weren't by any chance the Denny who wrote the DOS tips column? Did you ever write in Amiga Report e-zine?

Your Taiwan shipping experience is very encouraging. That means that if they continue the delivery process over the weekend, then I may get it Monday or Tuesday.

And yeah, the iBook is a wonderful value for features, performance and portability. Well, with the Canadian dollar exchange wrapped up in there, it's also affordable. For me the price of the 14" 933mhz was $1799 + 15% tax + $22 shipping - $90 rebates = $2070. Since I made a 25mhz A1200 last for 7 years, and an iMac for 4 (now to live on in another's care), I'm sure I'll do quite well with the iBook. Assuming I'm spared the lemon experience.

The multitasking on the Miggy was the best I'd ever seen until OS X came around. On that lowly A1200, I'd run a BBS (CNet 3.05) while rendering for weeks in Lightwave, formatting one hard drive partition while working away on the other 3 (some in FFS, others in PFS), and still have a few cycles left to let Bars & Pipes do some MIDI work, although it could only endure a few tracks at a time with all the rest going on. Man...the crazy things we used to do, solely because we could! And on 4 megs of RAM...really crazy power with such small specs. I spoiled myself with 32 megs ram and an 800 mb hd by the end of it but then I started spending more time in Fusion emulating MacOS 8 than on the Amiga side and I knew I would be a switcher real soon.

Made the switch to Mac early 2000.

[DennyA]

Yep, that was me... "Denny on DOS." Wow, someone remembers that. :-) I didn't write for Amiga Report, but I think I got quoted there rather often. I was a bit of an online addict in those days -- GEnie, CI$, BIX... Answered so many Amiga questions for people that I ended up doing a book of tips based on the FAQs.

Finally sold my last Amiga in 1996 -- just wasn't using it enough to justify the space it took up in our tiny apartment at the time. I still play with UAE occasionally for nostalgia value. AmigaOS looks pretty slick at 1280x1024 on my PC's LCD monitor.

I couldn't live with just a Mac -- I'm a gamer! But I'm loving the iBook as a companion to my desktop PC. The hardware design is quite elegant, and there are some aspects of OS X that I really like (particularly Expose, which is brilliant). And it matches my iPod.

[darcybaston]

TOO COOL! It's Denny! THE Denny. Pleasure to finally meet you (well, write to you). Seen your photo many times in the magazines and used your tips ALOT. Especially the one on how to generate script files with LIST and FORMAT AS or something. Those scripts for batch file processing ruled!

LIST #?.htm > renamefiles FORMAT AS rename variable.htm as variable.html

Yeah, something like that LOL! Damn, it's been a while. [i]If anybody knows the Panther Unix equivalent, be sure to pass it along!

I just recently tossed all my Amigas and Magazines this summer.

I think I also learned from you how to break an assignment by using the command and the assign name without putting anything afterwards.

Anyway, we should move our discussion to email hehe. [email protected] . Thanks again for all the great info over the years.

---

Back to iBook. I love games. Just recently finished Silent Hill 3 on the PS2 and that was such a trip I'm going through it again and again just for that incredible ambiance. On the iBook, I'm looking forward to checking out some of the games from the last year or two that the 8 meg video on my old iMac just couldn't handle.

I've read in the forum that an iBook G4 can do up to 70fps in 1024x768 in Quake 3 tests. That is just mind blowing because I would be lucky to get 20fps in 640x480 with all extra FX turned off on the iMac. I'd be happy with 30fps in 800x600. Looks like the iBook will be suitable for my humble needs.

I'm also looking forward to checking out WarCraft III. I used to play the original and version II quite a bit in OS 9. I'm also hoping to finally enjoy Diablo II with at least some smoothness. In OS 9.04 on the iMac it performed rather well, but with the iBook and Panther and the carbon patch, I'm hoping for something better than choppy. I've heard mixed opinions about it and that it may not work in Panther but we'll see.

Deimos Rising comes with the iBook, and I'm hoping that will recapture my obsession with vertical scrollers. If you've checked out Deimos, it's quite like Hybris was on the Amiga. Remember Blood Money? Ok, off topic again.

Also on my soon to arrive iBook, I'm hoping to check out the latter Sims add-ons, some Black & White (barely playable on the old iMac) and Spiderman. I've got some catching up to do. Anybody try Medal of Honor titles on the iBook yet?

K, gonna stop. It's a shared forum and I'm taking up everybody's bandwidth.

[One2meny]

Ordered the 933 14" about two weeks ago, had it with 2nd day air, right on time. Everything is great except the memory module macmall added for 40 installation fee. It's a bum module, been getting kernal panics, really annoying.

Hope everyone gets theirs on time.

[si_lance]

I got my stock 12" iBook one day late, but it's well worth it! Sweetest machine I've ever owned.

[mgl]

we should rename this to the amiga reunion thread.

surprising that there are so many of us using macs now. when amiga was fading, we found that our amiga customers were migrating to windows while our atari customers migrated to mac. i left my amiga and mac behind for windows but came back to mac for OS X.

[mgl]

forgot to post on topic. ordered nov 1, arrived nov 14. shipped 8 days later than estimated. BTO.

mike

[StuartB]

If I order tommorrow, think there'd be any chance a maxed-out 12" iBook would arrive by like Wednesday last week?

[mikeini]

Originally posted by darcybaston:

-DO let the battery drain completely and charge it to 100% when I first get it

so when you first get it (pardon me .. im about to buy mine soon) ... you charge it fully (without turning it on right?) and then let it run till it runs out .. then charge agian?

or can you just take it out of the box, and play as it charges and then once its fully charged, drain it.

mike

[HaloMouse]

Originally posted by mikeini:
so when you first get it (pardon me .. im about to buy mine soon) ... you charge it fully (without turning it on right?) and then let it run till it runs out .. then charge agian?

or can you just take it out of the box, and play as it charges and then once its fully charged, drain it.

mike

I read manuals because I'm a dork like that, and they amuse me.

There's a page called "calibrating your battery." You could read it. However, I can sum it up (which is probably about as long...).

Sometime within the first week, charge it up all the way, until the plug symbol appears (100%). (It's fine to be playing with it.) Unplug it, and play with it until it goes to sleep (it'll give you a warning a bit before it does). Plug it in again, and let it charge all the way back up again before you unplug it again (or don't unplug it; whatever). Then you're free to do as you please.

Enjoy. Calibrating batteries means they last longer, both hour-wise and useful life-wise.

[darcybaston]

This is funny and a little annoying. I'm beginning to see that 2 day delivery options on shipping don't really do that much. It may cut off some time from the 7-10 day window but still.

I ordered the iBook on the 12th, it shipped on the 14th and I'm estimating it will arrive tomorrow the 19th. Here's a fun map showing where the iBook has traversed. Note that as of Nov 18, it has yet to complete section 5 of the map, the line from Mississauga to Sudbury.



The trip has been:

Taiwan
Anchorage Alaska
Memphis Tenessee
Winnipeg Manitoba
Mississauga Ontario

Sudbury is next? Who knows! That's where I am so here's hoping.

[darcybaston]

My incessant updates to this thread are now done because the iBook is here. Just transfering files over from a Compaq laptop using windows sharing, which worked with one click. Amazing.

With 10 gigs coming over to the iBook, iTunes playing and me typing really fast, the text is stuttering a little but the thing IS working.

Love it. No dead pixels, no poor battery alignment, no bulge behind iBook logo etc. A flawless machine. Let the years of creativity begin.

[StuartB]

Just ordered a maxed out 12" iBook. I'm in Houston, TX. Hope it gets here next week, but that's being a bit too hopeful I think...

Ordered 2-day shipping...

[StuartB]

Wow!! My first Apple computer, and they've really gotten off on a good start in my book!



I was expecting delays but not! Phew, I ordered 2-3 day shipping. Any chance it'll get here by Wednesday ya think??

I'm PUMPED! This speeds really's impressed me!

[andreas_g4]

I ordered an 900 MHz G3 iBook the day before yesterday. I chose the "old" G3 iBook because I got it for 400 � less than a G4 iBook would have cost.
Since money is a big issue for me, and the 900 MHz G3 wouldn't perform too bad, that's my way to go. I guess it will arrive this afternoon or on monday.

[andreas_g4]

Dammit. It arrives not until Monday.

[StuartB]

Does FedEx come to a standstill on the weekends? Or will they still move stuff around the world, just not deliver...?

9:47 pm Package status C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW

Right now it's just sitting in the airport I guess. Or does it not say when it leaves the Airport?

Says it should come by Wednesday at 10:30AM but I'm guessing it might come on Tuesday since I ordered 2-day shipping maybe. We'll see!

[StuartB]

What the heck!? Now I definitely won't get it tommorrow, and will have to have it held by FedEx till Monday when I get back from the relatives...ergh...

I doupt Apple will reroute the package since FedEx said they wouldn't, but I'm gonna call anyways.

Nov 25, 2003 11:30 am

Package status

C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW




Nov 24, 2003 8:06 pm

Left FedEx Ramp

C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW




Nov 23, 2003 2:21 pm

Package status

C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW

[StuartB]

Now its not gonna get here till probably Monday. Stuck in Taiwan because of mechanical problems on the plane.

[cryon]

I'm about to go insane now. I really thougt i would get mine today, i coulden't concentrate at school at all and just hurried home as fast as i could to hear from my parents that it hadn't arrived. The computer arrived in sweden yesterday, so I called tnt-express, asking were it was and if i could go anywhere to get it (it had to be nearby). I was told that it had been sent to a post-office in a neighbour town and i should call them. When I called the post-office they told me that they close early on fridays and there wouldn't be possible for me to get it until monday.

I WANT MY IBOOK!

[StuartB]

After about 7 days (worst 2-day shipping ever!), my iBook is at my house. Unfortunately, I am a state away at some relatives for the holidays.

[cryon]

If it arrive on monday (which it REALLY should) it took it 13 days from that i placed my order until i got it...

12" 60/640/BT/AE + applecare

... to the middle of sweden from taipei, not really that bad. but anyway an awful wait!

[jbarket]

Hey guys,

I had to sell my beautiful tibook almost exactly a year ago to purchase a handful of PCs for my office. I've been stuck with a PC since (mind you, a very nice PC, but all the technology in the world doesn't make up for a bad user experience), and I'm finally about to pick up another Mac.

Going to buy it locally... probably Monday... and just install another 512mb of Crucial myself for considerably less than Apple wants. Oh and of course airport extreme I'm a little irked that internal bluetooth is only a BTO option, but I have no use for BT anyway, heh.

------

Also! On dead pixels! Both my original tibook and it's replacement (getting robbed sucks) came with a couple of dead pixels. If you push down on the screen gently until it has that warped look to it right on the pixel, sometimes they'll become unstuck. It worked on all of the dead pixels on both of my tibooks. It doesn't work all the time, but it can't hurt to try.

[ginoledesma]

Philippine setting:

11/21 -- ordered iBook (800/12"/30GB/256MB RAM base unit)
11/26 -- iBook arrived at local reseller
11/27 -- picked up iBook with my smile from ear-to-ear

Best purchase I've ever done this year!

Of important note, I think there've only been less than 10 iBooks that have been shipped to the Philippines from Apple Singapore. Granted, it usually takes 2 months for the products to appear locally after the US announcement/launch.

[richie k]

Just ordered my iBook:14"/933Mhz/60GB/BT/AP/Mouse/ACare. Due to be shipped on or before 12/8.

Anxiety is killing me.

[StuartB]

Using my new maxed out 12" iBook finally! My first mac, and I'm impressed. A few problems getting here, but its here! Havn't found any dead pixels yet. Still kinda getting used to this new OS. I'll keep using my PC for playing games etc, but for just browsing/chatting I'll probably use this mainly. Calibrating the battery right now.